Fools & Madmen

King Lear 

by William Shakespeare

“This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen.”       ― William Shakespeare, King Lear

The division of the Kingdom begins the play with first, the Earls of Kent and Gloucester speculating on the basis for the division and second, the actual division by Lear based on professions of love requested from his three daughters. When this event goes not as planned the action of the play ensues and the reader is in for a wild ride, much as Lear himself is. The mythic nature of the drama impressed me this reading. One might compare it to the Greek dramas like Oedipus at Colonus.

The play provides one of Shakespeare's most thoroughly evil characters in Edmund while much of the rest of the cast is aligned against each other. The story of Lear and his daughters is mirrored by the suffering of  the Earl of Gloucester who is tricked by his bastard son Edmund into believing that his other son Edgar is plotting against him. While there are a few lighter moments the play, often produced by the commentary of Lear's Fool, the tone is generally very dark filled with the bitter results of Lear's poor decisions at the outset. It is difficult to understand how little that Lear really knows his daughters. Interestingly we do not get much of a back story and find, other than his age of four score years, little else to suggest why Lear would surrender his power and his Kingdom at the outset. The play is certainly powerful and maintains your interest through dramatic scenes, while it also provides for many questions - some of which remain unanswered.